Only render points in a mesh

[FreeFrags]

Is it possible to only render the points in a mesh? 

 

I might be mistaken but looking at the code its only possible to render as a triangle mesh.

 

 

[FreeFrags]

I thought i would try rendering spheres using instancing, but the page becomes unusably slow after like 60.000 meshes. Since i want to be able to show a "point cloud" which is larger im still looking for better options. 

var spheres = [];//i put this somewhere in my initspheres.push(BABYLON.Mesh.CreateSphere("sphere", 2.0, 0.05, scene));

var indexY = 0;function OnTestInstancing() {  var index = 0;  for (var indexX = 0; indexX < 100; indexX++) {    for (var indexZ = 0; indexZ < 100; indexZ++) {      var newInstance = spheres[0].createInstance("i" + index);      newInstance.position = new BABYLON.Vector3(indexX * 0.2, indexY, indexZ * 0.2);      index++;     }   }   indexY += 0.5;}

[GameMonetize]

You can ask for wireframe rendering like this:

http://playground.babylonjs.com/#1KVF8R

[FreeFrags]

Im having trouble viewing examples in the playground sent a PM to ask what this could be.

 

If the example shows how to render the actual triangle mesh then its not what i was looking for. i would like to render only the vertices and be able to change the size of the "points".

 

I looked in the code but judging from this line (287 in babylon.mesh.ts):

engine.draw(useTriangles, useTriangles ? subMesh.indexStart : 0, useTriangles ? subMesh.indexCount : subMesh.linesIndexCount, instancesCount);    

it looks like this isnt possible only a choice between "solid" and "wireframe". But if im wrong please could you point me in the right direction.

[FreeFrags]

Im still figuring out how to compile babylon but i believe we would need something like the following added to the engine in order to get this working.

 

        public drawNew(drawAs: number, start: number, count: number, instancesCount?: number): void {            // Apply states            this.applyStates();                        // Render                     switch (drawAs)            {                case this._gl.LINES:                case this._gl.TRIANGLES:                    {                        if (instancesCount) {                            this._caps.instancedArrays.drawElementsInstancedANGLE(drawAs, count, this._gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, start * 2, instancesCount);                        }                        else                        {                            this._gl.drawElements(drawAs, count, this._gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, start * 2);                        }                    }                    break;                case this._gl.POINTS:                    {                        this._gl.drawArrays(drawAs, start, count);                    }                    break;            }                   }

This code isnt tested at all yet, and it doesnt use the instances for the points ... but if i manage to learn how to compile the TS to JS so i can test it before one of our pros comments ill post my updated code.

 

im using Visual studio here

[GameMonetize]

great thanks!!!

[FreeFrags]

I havent had time to figure out and read about how to compile babylon and how to submit a patch. 

 

So if anyone would like to use this code/idea to create a patch please do i hope i will have some time soon 

[FreeFrags]

Hi All 

 

I managed to add the ability to render a mesh as points to the engine. 

 

I forked the repo, i would appriciate it if this would be added to the official repo after a review  

 

https://github.com/FreeFrags/Babylon.js

 

 

it is very easy to use i hope this is enough info for you to test it out if not please tell me and ill create a test page.

 

Usage:

Add this to your pixelshader:

gl_PointSize = pointSize;

On your material set:

shadedMaterial.drawAs = WebGLRenderingContext.POINTS; //TRIANGLES draws a solid mesh Lines Draws the triangle mesh

[GameMonetize]

Hey that's great!

 

Can you submit a PR so that I will be able to easily review it. Did you test on all modern browsers?

[FreeFrags]

Well I tested with IE and Chrome, if it needs to be tested with any others pls tell me and i will. 

[FreeFrags]

Created a small test video:

 

When i have something more interesting to show ill upload a new video

[joshcamas]

Cool! This will be perfect for a vertex editor in my samacEditor! I tried making something like this and failed terribly. Amazing work!

[GameMonetize]

I've just pushed the release.

Now you can enable point rendering with:

sphere.material.pointsCloud = true;sphere.material.pointSize = 5;

[joshcamas]

Awesome!!!!!

[FreeFrags]

Cool thank you hope you guys enjoy using it.

[joshcamas]

Would it be possible to have both wireframe and dots enabled?

[FreeFrags]

@joshcamas

 

Ill look in the modified code which got merged into babylon for you. But i can tell you in the changes i sent this would not be possible. 

 

I believe that when you set the mesh to be rendered as points, you should not have to set the indices (you could but it should ignore them). Why would you ask well, if i only want to render points the indices are irrelevant (And a waste of memory).

 

That being said i cant see why it shouldnt be technically possible to render both the points and triangles. But it will require some more modifications. If its not too much work ill see if i can modify it and make a new pull request, but to be honest my interest is currently focused on something else (http://www.html5gamedevs.com/topic/10449-updateverticesdatadirectly/). So please feel free to look at it yourself and give it a try, i know many users will be great full if you add new functionality like that.  

[FreeFrags]

@Deltakosh

 

hi i believe there might be a small bug, or im not using it in the correct way. 

 

the following code results in a solid mesh.

sphere.material.pointsCloud = true;sphere.material.pointSize = 5;

the following code does result in the point cloud.

sphere.material.fillMode = BABYLON.Material.PointFillMode;

thanks again

[GameMonetize]

This works well for me:

http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#OCR2S

[nittrus]

On 11/20/2014 at 4:24 PM, Deltakosh said:

This works well for me:

http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#OCR2S

This is now broken in 2.5-beta

[GameMonetize]

And fixed..Thank you for having catch it!